Perhaps because Zuo Jingyun thought highly of Han Te and the Coloured Glaze, or perhaps because A Boxing Champion had informed her, 'Starlight' had prepared a separate room for them, which was one of the dark caves that could be seen everywhere on the wall.
Even though the caves were dark and narrow, and rocks were falling from above now and then, it was much better than the smell of sweat mixed with blood when other bandits and thugs were clustered together.
Han Te and the Coloured Glaze had just experienced the consecutive bloody battles in Liberty City. After only a few days, they had grown a lot and no longer had the childishness that they had when they just left the Village of Peace.
At this moment, the two of them were not hesitating or worried at all. Instead, they were staring at the starry brilliance outside curiously with their big, black, glittering eyes. Those were the countless members of Starlight who were taking care of their 'earthly dragons' carefully.
Li Yao observed the two little fellows in silence from behind, capturing every subtle change of expression on their faces. He couldn't help but have mixed feelings again.
Once upon a time, he had thought that he was destined to be a lone star and that he had risen from the most dangerous adversity. Everything in his past was simply a soul-stirring legend. In the entire sea of stars, there was not a single existence with as rich and unique experiences as him.
However, compared to Han Te and the Coloured Glaze, his' dangerous life 'in the magical equipment graveyard in the past could not have been more peaceful.
The sea of stars was too vast and boundless. Everybody who lived among the dots had their own bizarre, soul-stirring stories. If the two little fellows were lucky enough to escape from the Land of Sins, chances were that they would have even more remarkable achievements than 'Vulture Li Yao' in the future.
Looking at the two little fellows who were now confused, now amazed, and now excited, Li Yao secretly made up his mind. Even if he could not save everybody in the Land of Sins, at the very least, he would try his best to bring a completely different future to Han Te and the Coloured Glaze!
"After encountering so many things, aren't you the least bit surprised or scared?"
Looking at the two little guys, Li Yao couldn't help but laugh. "You guys are really thick."
"Huh?"
Han Te and the Coloured Glaze turned around. The boy scratched his head and looked at the girl. "What are you surprised and afraid of?"
"Everything."
Li Yao said, "For example, 'A Boxing Champion' Lei Zonglie, who is an artificial intelligence, the truth about the Land of Sins and the City in the Sky, and the desperate counterattack that 'Starlight' is about to launch. To be honest, when the two of you were so young, I seemed to have been competing with other people. I never dreamed that I would be involved in such an earthshaking event."
"Jealousy?"
Brilliance beamed out of the Coloured Glaze's eyes. She asked in both surprise and delight, "Grandpa Yao, have you recovered your memories?"
Li Yao was at a loss for words.
If his soul could cough, he would certainly have coughed hard for half a minute to cover his embarrassment.
"I was a little scared at first, but on second thought, there was nothing to be scared about. We are the children of the Land of Sins after all. We have seen too many things like that!"
Han Te held his chest and pretended to be knowledgeable. He scratched his head and smiled. "I don't know much about artificial intelligence, but I don't feel that Master A Boxing Champion is a bad guy. At the very least, he is not worse than other people."
"Exactly."
Sitting on the wall of the cave, the Coloured Glaze hugged her knees and crouched into a ball. She said gloomily, "I don't know what the so-called 'artificial intelligence' means exactly, and how it is different from real human beings. However, we have seen a lot of very, very bad guys in the Land of Sins. Some of the bad guys will shoot the crowd with guns for no good reason just because they are in a bad mood. Some of the bad guys will install sawtooth wheels on their crystal tanks and run amok in the crowd just because they are in a good mood. Some of the bad guys will even skin people alive and let the bloody innocent people dance before them until they are dead.
"Those guys are already bad enough, but they are nothing compared to the bad guys in 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky'.
"When I think of the bad things that those bad guys have done, I can't help but shudder and feel like vomiting. But they are all living human beings with flesh and blood, just like me and Han Te.
"Then, what's there to worry about artificial intelligence? My imagination is limited, and I can't figure out how an artificial intelligence can be even eviler than certain human beings.
"Therefore, even if Master A Boxing Champion or even Grandpa Yao are some sort of special artificial intelligence, it doesn't matter. As long as you are all good people, it will be enough!"
While talking, the girl puffed her cheeks and gave Li Yao a smile that was so brilliant that it was almost in a trance.
"What Starlight is going to do must be very dangerous, right? But I am not scared at all. Instead, I feel very lucky."
Looking at Li Yao, Han Te said solemnly, "I feel lucky that I found Grandpa Yao deep inside the ruins and discovered a vaster and more splendid world. It made me realize that the so-called life is not just the Desolate Worlds and the Village of Peace. There are also Starlight, the earthly dragons, and … heroes such as Zuo Jingyun and Wei Longtao.
"Perhaps I am bragging, but I want to be a hero like them, too. Really!"
"Being a hero is very dangerous," Li Yao said.
Han Te rubbed his nose and grimaced. "Then … Then, it's all Grandpa Yao's fault. It's your fault that you want to show us such a splendid world. After everything we've been through in the past month, how can we return to the life in the Village of Peace in the Desolate Worlds? "
"Exactly. It's exactly like what Uncle Wei Longtao said."
Liu Li said, "If you have been living in the darkness in the first place and have never seen the light, or even if you don't believe in the existence of light from the bottom of your heart, it doesn't seem to matter at all.
"However, as long as you see a ray of light, or even the feeblest spark, you will not be able to tolerate the suffocating darkness anymore, right?
"Right now, we have seen more than just a spark but the most brilliant fireworks. Grandpa Yao, Lord A Boxing Champion, Mayor Xiahou, Zuo Jingyun, Wei Longtao … To be able to fight side by side with so many heroes like you, the two of us, insignificant little fellows, will never be able to return to the past anymore. So, we can only stride forward toward the brightest direction. Han Te, don't you agree?"
"Exactly. That's exactly the case!"
Han Te grinned carefreely. "Besides, Grandpa Yao is here. With Grandpa Yao's help, we will certainly be able to completely blow up 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky'!"
Looking at the ignorant and fearless smiles of the young man and the girl, Li Yao couldn't help but smile, too.
"It seems that I really have to try my best," he mumbled.
"Otherwise, it will be a shame that you keep calling me 'Grandpa Yao'!"
The chains outside clattered, and A Boxing Champion's tall and muscular body appeared at the entrance of the cave.
"Master A Boxing Champion!"
The two little fellows both walked to him.
"I just discussed some details with Wei Longtao, the general commander of this place."
A Boxing Champion walked in and sat down next to Li Yao. He seemed to be talking to the two little fellows, but in fact, he was communicating with Li Yao. "Everything that Wei Longtao said basically matches the intelligence that I collected from the sanctuary of the Martial Meritocrats civilization. There are not many loopholes. The 'temple' of the Cultivators may indeed exist."
"Is that so?"
Li Yao was refreshed. "Right. Yesterday, you said that you could share the diaries and last words left by the natives of the Martial Meritocrats Sector in the sanctuary with us after everything was settled down, right?"
A Boxing Champion paused for a moment. His crystal processor hummed and soon darted out extremely thin threads of light, outlining vivid faces in midair.
One of the hideous and panicked faces was enlarged by A Boxing Champion. In the meantime, an intermittent, shivering voice came over. "… Master Chi You, please tell your most devout believer why things have turned out like this? Everything that we have done has been based on your guidance! We have clearly secured a great victory and completely conquered two worlds. Why have so many terrifying Immortal Cultivators arrived from the sky?
"Could this be your punishment for us? Could it be that we misunderstood your meaning? Could it be that we were really wrong?
"No. It's impossible. We were not wrong. We couldn't have been wrong! Please give us, your most loyal warriors, some more enlightenment! "
The muscular man on the light beam kept chanting Chi You's name with a twisted and weird face until the brilliance in his eyes was taken away, and his life was gone with the wind.
"These are the last words of a warrior of the 'Chi You Cult'."
A Boxing Champion transmitted tremendous data to Li Yao's crystal processor and explained, "The Chi You Cult is the mainstream religion of the Sand Primitive Sector. The believers of the Chi You Cult are all the most elite warriors of the Sand Primitive Sector. His last words can prove that there was indeed a brief war between the Martial Meritocrats Sector and the Sand Primitive Sector a long, long time ago, which ended with the Sand Primitive Sector's great victory."
The head of the hideous warrior of the Chi You Cult was gone, replaced by the head of a girl around twenty years old. She seemed to be seriously malnourished, and all the nutrition in her body had been supplied to her head. Her slim body could not support the weight of her head anymore, and she could only stagger and fall on the bed.
"Dad …"
The little girl, who had turned into a pile of dry bones hundreds of years ago, was holding a ragged furry puppy as if she were holding the whole world. She mumbled, "Mom said that you went to the sky to beat up the bad guys, and every brilliant star was the brilliance of your battle. She also said that as long as I was obedient, the starlight would illuminate the earth again one day.
"I've always been obedient, but my mom has gone to a place far, far away, too. I'm all by myself now. Dad, when will you come back? It's so dark here. I'm so scared. It's been a long time since I last saw starlight, too. Dad … "
"The word 'starlight' often appears in the diaries and last words of different people."
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